In what is reportedly the largest floating projection-mapping installation completed to date, a technical team at Video Systems Design, working with Montreal-based VYV Corporation, live-tracked a cruise ship and mapped ultra-wide content across its hull using a system built around 30 laser projectors and VYV’s real-time media-server and tracking platforms.
The activation used active positional tracking supported by 15 IR cameras, 38 IR emitters and more than a mile of fiber-optic, network, and signal cabling. Four media servers pushed 6,840 by 1,200-pixel mapped content, with calibration, alignment, and content adjustments.
Although the vessel was docked, it was still in constant micro-motion — rising and falling with the tide and shifting slightly with wind, currents, and passing traffic. That movement is enough to throw projection mapping out of alignment, making the live tracking system essential for maintaining accuracy. The IR mesh provided continuous spatial updates, allowing the media servers to compensate in real-time.
VYV media servers and tracking held visuals in alignment as the vessel moved — a far more complicated task than mapping a fixed building.
For a behind-the-scenes look at how it came together, check out the video below:
One crew member said the work “wouldn’t have been possible without the great minds from the VYV Corporation,” citing the unusually tight calibration timeline.
Projection mapping on static architecture has become common for special events and experiential campaigns, but doing it at scale on a moving cruise ship is far less typical. The blend of active tracking, high-brightness laser projection, and multi-server playback demonstrates how quickly large-format projection has evolved, where the “canvas” no longer needs to remain stationary.
(Image: Video Systems Design)